J-L eliminated from playoff contention

JOHANNESBURG — The theme of the season for the 2010 Johannesburg-Lewiston football team rang true one more time Friday night. If something can go wrong for the Cardinals, it will. And it did again in an ultra-important home showdown with Forest Area. Needing a victory to keep its playoff hopes alive, J-L was handed a much-closer-than-it-looked 22-0 defeat. Both teams had their chances — the Cardinals rolled out 245 yards on the ground — but it was the Warriors (5-2) who made the most of them in a field position battle. “We shot ourselves in the foot more than a couple of times,” said J-L coach John Bush. “We’d get something good going and then we’d have a fumble or a dropped pass. We didn’t string things together.” Hopefully, the Cardinals will be able to string those together in the future, such as next year, when J-L is expected to make another strong run for the playoffs. But for now, all the Cardinals can play for is a .500 record, which could happen with wins at rivals Atlanta and St. Mary the next two weeks. Neither J-L nor Forest Area could capitalize on their drives early in this game, as the game remained scoreless with 3:00 remaining in the first half. A couple of nice Cardinal drives eventually stalled out, one thanks the one-two combo of a penalty and sack. Forest Area’s balanced attack struck pay dirt late in the half, however, as quarterback Robert Steile suddenly caught fire, completing four straight-passes to push the ball 76 yards down field. The final of those was a beautiful strike to 6-foot-5 Ryan Burke, who cruised 31 yards into the end zone. The Warriors again got the ball to start the second half and Steile again went to work, connecting with Burke on a 25-yard strike and then with Jared Caldwell on a 32-yard scoring pass. A conversion by Ron Fall allowed Forest Area to jump ahead to a 14-0 lead. For the game, Steile was solid, completing 11-of-19 passes for 188 yards and the two touchdowns. Caldwell hauled in five passes for 99 yards, while Burke had three catches for 64 yards. “That’s how the game goes,” Bush said. “A spurt here and a run there and they caught us a little bit. They completed some big passes and we didn’t get our guys over the top.” J-L knew it needed a score on the next drive, and the Cardinals Wing-T ground game went to work. Brian VanCoillie, Dallas VanDoren and quarterback Alex Payne gashed the Forest Area defense, setting up a first and goal from the five-yard line. But when the Cardinals looked to get inside track for a touchdown around the left edge, an untimely fumble was scooped up by the Warriors’ Sean Ricketts. The resilient Cardinal defense, led by linebacker sophomore Jake Ormsbee, forced a quick punt, breathing more life into the J-L attack. Ormsbee, taking over the role filled by injured junior Blake Huff, had an impressive 19 tackles on the game. The Cadinals were able to piece together a pair of first downs, before another crucial sack derailed any scoring opportunity. On the next drive, J-L senior Jon Peterson stepped in front of a Steile pass and looked to be cruising into the end zone, but it ruled he dropped to a knee when picking it off. The ensuing Cardinal drive was a three and out. Forest Area’s next drive put the nail in the coffin, although it didn’t produce any points. The Warriors burned off six minutes of clock before turning the ball over to J-L on downs, at the Cardinals’ 11-yard line. Following a fumble, Forest Area’s Tom Hall scored on the next-to-last play of the game on a two-yard run. “It’s been one of those years,” Bush lamented. “If we’d have gotten a couple of more plays, who knows where we’d be at.” J-L had a very balanced ground attack, with VanDoren leading the way with 57 yards. Also for J-L, VanCoillie had 48 yards, Payne 47 yards, John Cook 47 yards and Buddy Shoff 44 yards. Payne completed a pair of passes to VanDoren, for a total of 24 yards. For the J-L defense, sophomore Wyatt Pelton had 13 total tackles, while senior lineman Adam Haskill had 11. Junior Nick Michael added 10 stops in the defeat, while junior Brett Kortman recorded a sack. Hall had 64 yards on the ground to lead the Warriors, while Fall chipped in 50 yards. With the win, Forest Area kept its playoff hopes alive. J-L shouldn’t have to look far for motivation in its next two games, as it will come against the school’s biggest two rivals. Up first is a trip to Atlanta (3-4), whom the Cardinals have dominated in recent years. “We’re going to try to win out and keep it going for the Cardinals,” Bush said.